No. 20 Auburn softball dropped their fourth game in a row falling to Georgia Tech 5-4.
Auburn jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but the Yellow Jackets battled back to gut out the win.
“We came out and fought with our at bats and competed early on in the game,” said co-head coach Chris Malveaux. “At the end of the day, we’re not in the position we were in if we put the game away. We had opportunities. There were a couple points where the energy was low and almost a ‘ride it out’ type of feel. That’s not going to cut it. We’re on the road against a good team. They wanted to beat us, and we didn’t want it as bad as they did. It’s the fourth game in a row where we are saying this. We got to figure out why that is.”
Auburn used three different pitchers in the mid-week showdown against the ACC foe. Southpaw SJ Geurin had a subpar start going just two innings. Haley Rainey was strong in relief working four innings while allowing just one run. Chalea Clemmons gave up a walk-off blast in the bottom of the seventh to take the loss.
Nelia Peralta set the tone for the Tigers at the plate. Her first inning long ball helped Auburn jump out to a 1-0 edge. Perlata’s hit streak is now at nine consecutive games. A double from KK McCrary who is now batting .307 on the season helped Auburn build the lead to 3-0.
In the bottom half of the second, Gracyn Tucker’s seventh home run of the season ignited Georgia Tech’s comeback cutting Auburn’s advantage to 3-1. Later in the frame, a passed ball moved Addison Leschbar into scoring position. The Yellow Jacket’s capitalized as Paige Vukadinovich’s two-out single put Georgia Tech within one run.
Two walks from Peralta and Anna Wohlers set Auburn up for a chance to extend their lead. Left fielder McCrary did her job driving in Peralta on a fielder’s choice to make it a 4-2 ballgame.
In the fourth inning Georgia Tech trimmed the lead back down to one. A leadoff hit by pitch came back to plague Auburn as Tucker came around to score.
The bats for both sides went quiet as Rainey and Tech’s Sophia Voyles shut the door in the fifth and sixth innings.
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Georgia Tech got the tying run aboard via a Eliana Gottlieb walk. Down to their last out, Grace Connelly blasted a two-run, walk-off homer to deliver Georgia Tech the 5-4 upset victory.
Auburn will return home Friday night, looking to snap their four game losing streak against No. 5 Texas A&M. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. CST and the game is available to stream on SEC Network +.
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Rory is a freshman majoring in journalism sports production. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @RorymGarvin
